A variety of recreational, rider-propelled wheeled vehicles are known, including skateboards and scooters. Scooters are vehicles that typically include a rider platform, or deck, on which a rider may stand with one or two feet; front and rear wheel assemblies that each include at least one wheel; and a steering shaft that is connected to one or more front wheels to convey steering inputs from the rider to the front wheel assembly. Many scooters are rider-powered devices, in which a rider, or user, propels the scooter along a ground surface by pushing or kicking against the ground surface with one of the rider's feet, with the other foot being used to support the rider on the rider platform of the scooter.
To steer a typical conventional scooter, the rider rotates the scooter's steering shaft about its longitudinal axis to steer, or orient, the scooter's front wheel(s) in the desired direction of travel. In some conventional scooters, the scooter is steered by pushing, or pivoting, the scooter's steering shaft in the desired direction of movement, with this pushing, or pivoting, movement orienting the scooter to travel in the selected direction. In some conventional scooters, at least a set of front or rear wheels are mounted on a truck, which is coupled to the rider platform, typically on or adjacent the underside thereof. Such a scooter may be steered by the rider leaning or shifting the rider's weight laterally to tip or pivot the rider platform relative to its long axis, thereby imparting steering forces to the wheels of the truck to steer the scooter.
Many conventional scooters are configured, such as via the orientation and/or construction of the scooter's steering assembly and/or front wheel assembly, to assist the rider in steering the scooter by creating turning, or steering, forces that urge the scooter toward a greater steering, or turning, angle. Such a configuration may be helpful to assist riders achieve a desired steering angle and/or to achieve such a steering angle with less required force applied by the user. However, these steering forces, when present, also oppose restoring, or stabilizing, forces that urge the steering assembly to a neutral, or forward, steering configuration.